Safe.



Patented Apr. I0, lIQIEID.

L. B. WHITE.

S A F E.

(Application led J une 14, 1899.)

(No Model.)

HIV

Rs co, PNDTuLITHo., wAsHINGToN, n. n.

- the construction of vaults.

UNITED STATES PATENT @man LEvI r.. WHITE,- or URBANA, ILLINOIS.-

SAFE.

SPECIFICATION refining part of Lettere recent No. 647,058, dated Apruio,1906.

Application led June 14, 1899.

To all whom it :nag/concern.-

Be it known 'that I, LEVI B. WHITE, of Urbana, in the county ofChampaign and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safes; and I hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and eXact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention is an improvement in safety-vaults for containing moneyand valuable papers; and its object is to provide a safe which will beboth fire and burglar proof; and it consists in the novel constructionsand combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed, theaccompanying drawings illustrating a safe embodying the invention, andin which- Figure l is a vertical transverse sectional view of a safeembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional viewof a safe embodying my invention, the same being shown in closedposition in the vault.

A designates the outer casing or vault,which is preferably made of ironor steel and sunk into the earth at the bottom of a shaft of any desireddepth.

B designates a removable safe which telescopes within the vault A and isformed, preferably, of steel such as is used ordinarily in This safe isprovided with a lower apartment B and an upper apartment B2. The mostvaluable papers will preferably be placed in the lower apartment, whichis separated from the upper one by a thick metallic partition h3. Ofcourse more apartments may be made in the safe, if desired. The top b ofthe safe B is to be made of tough chilled safe metal. When the safe B islowered into the vault, the projecting edges of top b will fit into ashoulder or rabbet A at the upper edge of the vault, as shown. Abovethis top b I preferably have one or more supplementary tops, (two, O c,being shown in the drawings.) The supplementary top C is preferablylarger than top h and is separated therefrom byinterposed thimbles 0rscrew-bolts C' or any other suitable connections, which will securelyunite 'the tops b and C, but keep them slightly separated. Above thissupplementary top C is shown a second supplementary top c, which seriaNo. 720,560. (Ne medew is larger than top C, being secured thereto byscrew-bolts c', so as to be slightly separated therefrom, in the samemanner that top C is secured to top b, and( these supplementary tops maybe placed one above the other in any desired number. The mouth of thevault is also provided with shoulders or ralobets A2 and A3, into whichthe projecting edges of the supplementary tops C c respectively fit when`the safe is lowered into the vault.

Within the safe are two long curved and weighted bolts D, which areretained in curved guides D/ on the inner wall of the safe and areconnected at their upper ends to a rod or chain cl,`which is connectedto a time-controlled mechanism of any suitable construction, which I donot deem necessary to show in the drawings, by which at the proper timethe bolts are allowed to be raised. At other times the bolts will remainlocked. When the safe is lowered into the vault, the lower ends of thesebolts will project through openings B3 in the side walls of the safe anden'- gage with recesses or keepers a in the walls of the vault, so thatit will be impossible to raise the safe so long as these bolts remainengagedwith the keepers. Therefore, if the time mechanism be properlyset it will be impossible to raise the safe until the time mechanismreleases the bolts. The bolts will 'drop by gravity; but as anadditional precaution a supplementary weight D2 may be connected to themby a chain or other flexible connection D3, so as to insuretheirengagement with the keepers.

A suitable hoisting apparatus (not shown) maybe used to raise and lowerthe safe.

The chambers B and B2 of the safe may be provided with doors 12'62,secured by commutation ortimelocks, if desired, as a further precautionagainst burglarizing. By the use of supplementary separate covers itwould be necessary to drill through and remove each cover successivelybefore entry could be made intothe safe proper, and as the covers areseparated the violent blowing olf of an upper cover will not injure thelower ones.

The time mechanism may be arranged in the spaces between thesupplementary covers and may be secured to the upper cover, so that ifsaid cover is forced off in any Way the time-lock would be destroyed andthe bur- IOO precaution, t'wo or more such time mechanisms may beprovided, any one of which will unlock the safe at the proper time, sothat in case of accidental or violent breakage of one or more of thetime-controllers the safe will still be unlocked at the proper time.

Having thus described myinvention, what I therefore claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of the vault, the safe telescoping therein providedwith a series of top plates or covers, the lower cover being secured tothe top of the safe and each superimposed cover -being secured only tothe cover immediately below it and having no direct connection with thesafe, for the purpose and substantially as described.

2. The combination of the sunken vault, with the safe telescopingtherein, provided with a series of separate covers rigidlyconnected toeach other, the lower cover being secured to the top of the safe, andthe superimposed covers being secured fixedly to the cover immediatelybelow it and having no direct connection with the safe, said coversbeing of successively-larger size, for the purpose and substantially asdescribed.

The combination of the sunken vault, the safe telescoping therein, andmeans for locking said safe when lowered into said vault; withsupplementary covers attached to said safe and separated from the topthereof, and from each other, by intervening spacesthe first cover beingrigidly connected to the top of the safe and the second cover beingrigidly connected to the rst cover, the connections between the coversbeing. independent, substantially as described.

4. In a safe, the combination of a sunken casing or vault and the safeadapted to it into said casing, with the oppositely-curved and weightedbolts in said safe adapted to be automatically projected by gravitythrough openings in the walls thereof into locking engagement withkeepers or recesses in the side of the vault when the safe is loweredtherein, and means for withdrawing or unlocking said bolts when the safeis to be raised substantially as described.

5. In a safe, the combination of a sunken casing or vault, and the safeadapted to fit into said casing, and opposite curved boltguides in saidsafe; with the opposite curved bolts in said guides adapted to projectthrough openings in the sides of the said safe when the same is lowered,and. engage keepers or recesses in the sides of the vault, the weightconnected to the bolts, and means whereby said bolts may be retractedwhen the safe is to be raised, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

LEVI B. WHITE In presence of- SPENCER M. WHITE, OLIVER B. DOBBINs.-

